Today, amazingly was a THREE egret day! Being late summer, good numbers of Little Egret are now back in the harbour and this morning 1 (possibly 2) Great White Egret were seen along the southern edge with one flying in over SW over South Haven towards Brownsea with another (or the same) seen in Middlebere later on. The most incredible report was 3 Cattle Egret flying into Middlebere with 5 Little Egret at 8:30am. However upon closer inspection of the photo the 5 Little Egret were in fact juvenile Cattle Egret meaning 8 flew in together!! This constitutes the largest Poole Harbour gathering of this species and could be a sign of things to come for the coming years? How prominent will they be this autumn and winter? Also in Middlebere were 7 Spoonbill, 4+ Osprey and 8+ Greenshank with a Whinchat along the entrance track. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Bonaparte’s Gull was still present with a Little Stint, 11+ Greenshank, 14 Avocet, 112 Little Egret, 160 Redshank, 3 Spotted Redshank, 110 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Knot, 325 Dunlin, 59 Ringed Plover, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 30 Teal, 1 Osprey, 1 Hobby and 4 Kingfisher. 

An early morning stroll to Holton Lee was worth it when a juvenile Cuckoo was found feeding near the car park, in the horse field. It spent much of the morning feeding on worms, seemingly not bothered by us stood 20m away photographing and filming it. At Lytchett Fields there were 104 Dunlin, 64 Black-tailed Godwit, 9 Greenshank, 6 Common Sandpiper, 20+ Green Sandpiper, 60+ Redshank and 1 Spoonbill whilst elsewhere in Lytchett Bay a ringing session produced 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 11 Reed Warbler and 14 Sedge Warbler. Migration through Ballard Down consisted of 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 11 Common Whitethroat and several Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2 Greenshank, 11 Avocet, 60 Redshank, 4 Common Sandpiper and a presumed Razorbill off the Brownsea Quay. Ospreys were seen over Brownsea, Middlebere and Arne. 

Cuckoo – Holton Lee – Paul Morton

With the increase in breeding totals of Great White Egret elsewhere in the country its no surprise these large white herons are becoming a more regular visitor to the harbour. This morning one went over the southern shores of the harbour and was later seen in the Wareham Channel. The Spoonbill total has now risen to 9 which is typical for early/mid August and we expect that number to continue to increase up until mid October with last year seeing a UK record of 60 Spoonbill in the harbour. Lytchett Fields was busy again with 106 Dunlin, 65 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Greenshank, 27 Little Egret, 80 Redshank, 70 Lapwing, 6 Common Sandpiper and 15+ Green Sandpiper. Migration through Ballard Down included 1 Redstart, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, several Common Whitethroat, 10+ Willow Warbler, a few Blackcap and a juv Great Spotted Woodpecker. All 8 Osprey chicks continue to do well and are now becoming more frequent in other areas of the harbour. Arne and Middlebere are still great places to look but they’ve also started venturing towards the Wareham Channel too which is great news. 

Common Redstart – Ballard Down

Juv (left ) and adult (right) Common Whitethroat – Ballard Down

Grasshopper Warbler – Ballard Down

Hoorah! Summer is back! For a few days at least. Another nice selection from around the harbour today including 2 male Golden Pheasant on Furzey Island, a species that’s been in much decline on Brownsea over the last few years due to mass Rhododendron removal. Furzey on the other hand has kept vast amounts of this ornamental scrub giving the Golden Pheasant their favourite hiding place.  In Wytch Lake the over-summering 2 Brent Geese were still there with 1 Yellow-legged Gull and 3 Avocet with Yellow and Pied Wagtail over and a Pied Flycatcher at Fitzworth. On Brownsea an Osprey passed over the lagoon where 3 Spotted Redshank were feeding. At Lytchett Fields there were 5 Common Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank, 60+ Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, 20+ Willow Warbler, 6 Sedge Warbler and 4 Whitethroat. At Arne 3 Osprey were flying above Coombe Heath together with 6 Spoonbill, 1 Redstart and 4 Greenshank around the Middlebere area and a Barn Owl sat out in broad day light out in front of the Middlebere hide.

Golden Pheasants – Furzey Island – Nick Hopper

Earlier this week we released our last two chicks, LS2 and LS4. Both have had an excellent five days flying time and have fitted right in with the other six. So, as it stands all eight of this years birds are now flying and doing brilliantly. Already many of them have spent time touring the SW and southern areas of the harbour with Arne/Middlebere being a particularly good place to try and see them. Phew! We’re so happy to be at this stage now and to see them all doing so well is just fantastic.

There was another good suit of birds today with the highlight being a Melodious Warbler at Greenland’s Farm, Studland down behind the empty barn at the western end with 1 Pied Flycatcher, 11 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Redstart, 4 Wheatear, 2 Whitethroat and several Willow Warbler. On Brownsea the Bonaparte’s Gull was seen again and the Little Stint was with Dunlin out on the central mud bank also 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Firecrest on the island. Migration through Ballard this morning included 2 Grasshopper Warbler (one adult, one juvenile), 10 Willow Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler and 3 Whitethroat. At Swineham migrants included 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 13 Chiffchaff, 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler and an adult male Marsh Harrier. At Lytchett Fields there was evidence Teal had bred on site with a female and 4 young still in tow on Sherford Pools, also 78 Lapwing, 92 Teal and 4 Common Sandpiper.

Pale, worn adult Grasshopper Warbler – Ballard – Olly Slessor

Olive, fresh juvenile Grasshopper Warbler – Ballard – Olly Slessor

A still dawn with cloud cover just sat off the coast dropped a number of migrants early doors with passage through Ballard including 1 Cuckoo, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 fresh juvenile Firecrest suggesting local breeding, 12 Willow Warbler, 8 Common Whitethroat, 2 Reed Warbler, 4 Blackcap and 2 Chiffchaff. Along the Wytch Channel there were 2 Redstart, 5 Common Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler and 4 Stonechat. On Brownsea the Bonaparte’s Gull and Little Stint were seen early doors but not later in the day but 23 Little Egret, 11 Avocet, c45 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank and 1 Kingfisher put in afternoon appearances. There were 7 Spoonbill in Middlebere and at Lytchett Fields 9 Common Sandpiper were out on the fields with 21 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 2 Snipe, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Kingfisher, 11 Sedge Warbler, 4 Willow Warbler and 2 Whitethroat.

Male Firecrest – Ballard 

Common Whitethroat – Ballard 

A fairly quiet day today but Brownsea got a good look with the Bonaparte’s Gull seen around lunch time, 1 juv Little Stint, 113 Dunlin, 13 Ringed Plover, 10 Greenshank, 84 Redshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 228 Black-tailed Godwit, 8 Avocet, 549 Oystercatcher, 13 Little Egret, 1 juv Yellow-legged Gull, 3 Med Gull, 1 Shoveler, 12 Teal and 8 Gadwall. In Holes Bay a juv Marsh Harrier passed over the north end during the morning, also 12 Yellow-legged Gull in the southern area of Holes Bay with 5 Common Sandpiper, 3 Whimbrel and 1 Wheatear.

Another wet day but light enough to bird but consistent enough to down a handful of migrants. On Hartland 2 Redstart, 3 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat and several Willow Warbler were in a feeding flock near the entrance of Middlebere. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Bonaparte’s Gull reappeared and an adult Little Stint dropped in too. At Lytchett Bay there were 6 Spoonbill, 3 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 130+ Redshank, 70+ Black-tailed Godwit, 20+ Green Sandpiper, 12+ Common Snipe and 4 Common Sandpiper. In Poole harbour west 2 new Marsh Harrier arrived in to the harbour including an adult male and a duller male, making that 5 different birds present over the last week.

The Osprey chicks didn’t do a great deal today other than sit, and sit…and sit. As we said, the rain wasn’t too bad, and there wasn’t any wind but it was enough rain to make them not want to move very far very fast, and we can’t blame them!

We also spoke to Charlie Moores at Hen Harrier day about what Hen Harriers mean to us southerners here in Poole Harbour and you can listen to that conversation within THIS PODCAST. 

It was a good day bird variety wise around the harbour with some good coverage too. Wader passage is really picking up now and the Brownsea Lagoon was busy with a decent increase in Black-tailed Godwit arriving in as 236 are now settled on the lagoon with a supporting cast of 16 Avocet, 18 Curlew, 130 Redshank, 12 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Knot, 2 Whimbrel, 450 Oystercatcher, 18 Curlew, 61 Dunlin, 6 Sanderling, 10 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone, 1 Yellow-legged Gull and 1 Med Gull with a small fall of migrants across the island which included c30 Willow Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Redstart and 4 Whitethroat and a single Firecrest seen. In Middlebere 8 Spoonbill are now present with a newly arrived and pristine white adult amongst the younger birds, also a decent count of 29 Yellow-legged Gull came into roost, 5 Spotted Redshank were feeding along with 12 Avocet, 5 Greenshank, 2 Ringed Plover and a Green Sandpiper. At Lytchett Fields a Wood Sandpiper was on Sherford Pools along with good numbers of other waders, which included91 Dunlin, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, 115 Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Common Sandpiper, 5+ Green Sandpiper, 12 Snipe and uncounted numbers of Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit as well as a Hobby over and 2 Spoonbill.

We also had a fascinating encounter today when each of our Osprey chicks were sat minding their own business out on the marsh when LS1 flew up and off over towards Middlebere, near Arne. Ten minuets later it arrived back but with an adult Osprey in tow which then settled down and sat with our clan. It was then quickly observed that the adult Osprey had a blue ring on the right leg and Tim Mackril was able to get the ring number CJ7. A few quick phone calls enabled him to recover the details which told us the adult was in fact a 2^nd summer female which was originally ringed as a chick at Rutland in 2015. Her sighting today was the first since she left for Africa back in 2015 and the Rutland team are ecstatic to know she’s still alive and doing well. CJ7 promptly settled down for the night and actually roosted with our chicks near the release site and stayed there until 8am the following morning. What she does from now will be interesting to observe, will she come back and hang out with our chicks once more? Or will she even begin to feed them like one adult female Osprey did up at Rutland in the early stages of their project? 

Adult female Osprey CJ7 – Simon Kidner

Adult female Osprey CJ7 joining our chicks – Simon Kidner

Looking at the long-range weather forecast it looks as if we’re going to have a ‘westerly’ august! Not conducive for the arrival of species such as Wood Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Little Stint…Aquatic Warbler! Never say never though as these types of weather systems are perfect for landing things like Pectoral, White-rumped or even the harbour’s first Baird’s Sandpiper on to our shoreline. The Brownsea Lagoon, Lytchett Fields and the new Holton Pools are all areas that need constant monitoring through August and September with good numbers of commoner waders arriving in and the added potential excitement of a rarity or two turning up in amongst them. At Lytchett Fields the wader number numbers continue to increase with 23 Green Sandpiper, 87 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 3 Ringed Plover, 4 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 6 Greenshank and 1 Whimbrel with a decent Swift flock of c80 birds moving on through. In Middlebere there were 7 Spoonbill and 2 adult Osprey with several of the translocated juveniles venturing over that way a bit more. In the Wareham Channel there are now up to 3 Marsh Harrier roosting together. And finally a ringing session at Fleets Corner, in Poole Harbour north produced 2 Whitethroat, 2 Garden Warbler and 2 Willow Warbler.

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam